This book is based on experience and reflections related to international support provided to parliaments and legislative bodies both in selected countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ghana, Serbia, and Kyrgyzstan) and globally. The author intends to provide a critique of parliamentary support, as part of development assistance or foreign aid, for having been conceived in narrow terms of technical assistance and for failing to appreciate that aid effectiveness calls for a sound understanding of a countrys politics, culture, and history. The monograph examines the effectiveness of aid in both stable democracies, and fragile and transition countries. The project is ideal for audiences interested in regional politics, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and development/democracy studies.  

Monjurul Kabir is Senior Adviser and Chief of Section, Asia-Pacific, LDCs, and SIDS with UN Women at United Nations, New York, USA. He is a political scientist, governance, human rights, and gender expert. 

1. Chapter 1: Introduction.- 2. Chapter 2: Research Design and Methodology.- 3. Chapter 3: Reviewing the Literature: The Long Walk to Democracy and Development.- 4. Chapter 4: Assisting Parliament- Is Development Aid Effective?.- 5. Chapter 5: Does PDA Have Any Impact on Oversight?.- 6. Chapter 6: PDA at Work- Exploring Impact in Stability.- 7. Chapter 7: PDA at Work- Exploring Impact in Fragility and Transition.- 8. Chapter 8: From Learning to the Visioning.- 9. Chapter 9: Conclusion.